Bruno Mars ends hip-hop's Grammy dreams

There was no hip hop hooray Sunday night.Bruno Mars won the Grammy for album of the year with "24K Magic," squ...

Posted: Jan. 29, 2018 1:21 PM

Updated: Jan. 29, 2018 1:21 PM

There was no hip hop hooray Sunday night.

Bruno Mars won the Grammy for album of the year with "24K Magic," squelching hopes that an album by a hip-hop artist would win the Recording Academy's top prize for a third time.

Lauryn Hill's "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill" won the album of the year Grammy in 1999, and Outkast's "Speakerboxxx/The Love Below" won in 2004.

Mars was up against "Awaken, My Love!" by Childish Gambino, "4:44" by JAY-Z, "DAMN." by Kendrick Lamar and "Melodrama" by Lorde for album of the year.

The race was closely watched as it marked one of the few times in the 60-year history of the Grammys there were no white males nominated in the category.

There was an audible reaction, seemingly of surprise, from the audience when Mars was announced as the winner.

Twitter was equally vocal.

"Bruno Mars imma let you finish, but Gambino Kendrick and Jay Z made some of the best albums IN HISTORY #GRAMMYs," one person tweeted.

Much of the upset seemed to be centered on the fact that Lamar has yet to win album of the year, despite his numerous critically acclaimed projects.

The Grammys has long been criticized for lagging behind popular culture in its recognition of hip hop.

The best rap album category wasn't even created until 1995.

While Mars is a person of color (the Hawaiian native is of Puerto Rican descent), there has also been the issue of some fans feeling like artists of color, especially rappers like Lamar, have not been given their just due by Grammy voters.

In 2014, an Instagram post of white rapper Macklemore's text apologizing to Lamar for winning best rap album went viral.

Macklemore wrote to Lamar, "You got robbed."

"He deserved best rap album," Macklemore wrote in the caption accompanying a picture of his text. "I'm honored and completely blown away to win anything much less 4 Grammys. But in that category, he should have won [in my opinion]."